Ecco the Dolphin: The Twelve Tides
Ecco the Dolphin: The Twelve Tides is an action-adventure game developed by Lunatic Entertainment. It follows the adventures of the titular Ecco, a bottlenose dolphin. It is the fifth game in the Ecco the Dolphin, and the second reboot of the franchise. Gameplay The Twelve Tides continues the franchise's legacy of high difficulty. This even goes so far as to affect the save system: Easier difficulties (still difficult by general standards) allow an in-game save function, but the harder difficulties instead implement a password system, making it possible but more strenuous to continue on after a Game Over. A final Hardcore Mode does not allow saving at all. Controls and gameplay remains the same as the former 2D games, with some aspects of the 3D reboot left intact, as well. Attacking enemies, for instance, is accomplished by making Ecco ram into them at high speeds. Swimming is extremely important to gameplay and takes the place of all movement aspects, and Ecco can be made to travel at progressively faster speeds by tapping a corresponding button, and the speed can be maintained by holding this same button down. Players can perform a purely aesthetic spin in the air when jumping out of the water, similar to show dolphins at water parks. Other gameplay aspects play on the actual behavior of real life dolphins, with Ecco using his echolocation (via a corresponding button press) to call out and communicate with other cetaceans or interact with certain objects found strewn about the landscape; holding this same button down will cause the echo to return to him in order to generate a map of the area. Additionally, Ecco must breathe air like all other mammals and thus must periodically surface or find a convenient air pocket to prevent his drowning (represented by rapidly losing health once his air meter has drained completely). Although primarily for aestheticism, Ecco can also balance out of the water on his tail to perform a tailwalk to view things above the water's surface better without needing to leap. The player must keep track of two separate meters: The Health Meter and the Air Meter. While air is depleted at a constant rate when not at the surface or at an air pocket, health can be depleted either by running out of air or by colliding with undefeated enemies (in a manner where Ecco is not currently attacking them) or their projectiles. Just like the Air Meter, the Health Meter can also be restored, though in this case Ecco must either eat local fish, "sing" to clams, or singing to various objects known as glyphs. Vitalits are permanent power-ups obtained in secret areas that will increase Ecco's health meter. By combining his charge and sonar, Ecco can attack enemies from a distance; if the player presses the charge button again right as the sonar attack connects with a foe he will swiftly home in on them to deal devastating damage -- this is intended to reference the Homing Attack found in Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future. He also retains his ability to make a quick 180° turn, useful during combat; as well as the ability to stop abruptly. If he has already come to a stop, this move will instead make him swim backwards. Glyphs, enormous crystals, can also be found and interacted with in various levels that will respond differently depending upon whether Ecco sings to or simply makes physical contact with them. Some of these glyphs will block important or secret paths, in which case specific glyphs referred to as "Key-Glyphs" must be located to unlock said paths. Glyphs serve other purposes as well, such as providing important information, replenishing health or air meters or even giving Ecco temporary invulnerability. A number of puzzles must be solved to progress, which includes an underwater escort mission of guiding a pilot whale out of a cavern system to safety, and a game-wide "scavenger hunt" to locate key items. A number of optional upgrades can be obtained through a variety of hidden glyphs. These include the following: *Permanently Grants Ecco the "Power of Sonar" ability, which allows Ecco's song to be combined with a charge as a long-ranged attack. It can also now shatter certain stones. *Permanently Grants Ecco the "Song of the Shark" ability, which temporarily disorient sharks and make minor enemies temporarily freeze. This will not work on great white sharks that begin to appear in later levels, nor the megalodon boss. *Temporarily Grants Ecco the "Power of Vigor" ability, which allows Ecco to move faster and deal more damage while charging foes. He also can swim against strong currents. *Temporarily Grants Ecco the "Power of Air" ability, which doubles Ecco's air meter for a short period of time. *Temporarily Grants Ecco the "Power of Endurance" ability, which maxes out Ecco's health meter to double that of the normal maximum. However no health recovery is possible until health is decreased through various means back to a level of health already obtained by the player. Does not persist between zones. *Temporarily Grants Ecco the "Power of Stealth" ability, which allows Ecco to become temporarily invisible to enemies. This is necessary during one particular boss battle. *Temporarily Grants Ecco the "Song of the Turtle" ability, which sways turtles to join Ecco's cause. These can soak up damage from foes by putting them between Ecco and an attacking enemy. *Temporarily Grants Ecco the "Song of the Fish" ability, which sways schools of fish to follow Ecco. These can either very slowly "nibble off" bits of enemy and even boss health, but they can also be eaten to regain health as well. Doing so however will cause the surviving fish to scatter. *Temporarily Grants Ecco the "Song of the Ray" ability, which commands manta rays to swim in the direct Ecco sang. It also will make stingrays panic and flee. *Temporarily Grants Ecco the "Song of the Plant" ability, which causes one certain plant to spray ink and another to sing while bobbing up and down, distracting more intelligent enemies like humans, aliens, and orca. *Temporarily Grants Ecco the "Pulsar" ability, which transforms his echo into a multi-directional sonar attack. This will only work for the rest of the stage, but persists through death so long as the player does not get a Game Over. *Temporarily Grants Ecco the "Metasphere" ability, which metamorphs him into a variety of stage-specific animals to accomplish various tasks. Enemies in the game are generally based on dangerous sea life such as sharks, giant octopodes, stingrays, pufferfish and lionfish, et cetera. However, other enemies such as possessed seahorses and manatees, aggressive humans, or extraterrestrial lifeforms are also encountered. Zones Like previous installments, the game is broken up into zones; however this time the twelve zones are now based on themes inspired by Lunatic Entertainment's twelve elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Ice, Lightning, Light, Darkness, Forest, Ki (in this game this is replaced with a Death theme, which is normally encompassed by the Darkness element in magic-oriented games), Space, and Creation. Similar to the original Ecco the Dolphin (1992) and its immediate sequel, The Tides of Time (1994), The Twelve Tides has a stage named after a Pink Floyd song. Whereas the original game used "Welcome to the Machine" for the name of its penultimate level, and Tides of Time used "A New Machine" for a level that shortens its title to just "New Machine", The Twelve Tides uses several Pink Floyd songs titles throughout. Although the game initially intended to proceed through Lunatic Entertainment's elements in order, it was later decided to mix them up a little to make a nice storyline set up using them. Nature Zone: Welcome to the Jungle The Nature Zone has a stage called "Coming Back to Life", based on the Pink Floyd song on their 1987 album, "The Division Bell". Earth Zone: Beneath the Village The Earth Zone has a stage called "Breathe (In The Air)", based on the Pink Floyd song on their 1973 album, "The Dark Side of the Moon". Dead Zone: Return to the Jungle The Dead Zone has a stage called "Signs of Life", based on the Pink Floyd song on their 1987 album, "A Momentary Lapse of Reason". Water Zone: The Water Zone has a stage called "Ebb and Flow", based on the Pink Floyd song on their 2014 album, "The Endless River". Air Zone: The Air Zone has a stage called "A Pillow of Winds", based on the Pink Floyd song on their 1971 album, "Meddle". Lightning Zone: The Darkness Zone has a stage called "On The Run", based on the Pink Floyd song on their 1973 album, "The Dark Side of the Moon". Fire Zone: Oil Spill The Fire Zone has a stage called "Flaming", based on the Pink Floyd song on their 1967 album, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn". Ice Zone: The Ice Zone has a stage called "The Thin Ice", based on the Pink Floyd song on their 1979 album, "The Wall". The stages in this zone are set in the ice floes of Antarctica, although spacetime temporal fluxes drag polar bears and a particular white orca from the Arctic circle. The area is dotted with massive icebergs and smaller ice floes that randomly crash against one another, which can crush Ecco, instantly killing him. Breathing is also dangerous here as well, with the air holes slowly reasealing over time; the longer they have had to freeze back over, the more attacks Ecco must do to reopen the hole and allow breathing. Time distortions in this zone will cause the ice levels to drop and sea levels to rise (future) or the ice levels to rise and the sea levels to drop (past). Enemies include orcas, leopard seals, white sharks, and polar bears. The local cetaceans that you can speak with are actually a number of different species, unique for this zone: As the White Orca was brought to the area by a temporal flux, he has since taken over the orca pods in the area. They have successfully subjugated one of the two local dolphins, the Northern Right Whale Dolphins, who serve as the Orca's enforcer patrols. These dolphins seek out the Hourglass Dolphins that also reside here; these dolphins are allies of Ecco, and protect the Dall's Porpoises that have been transported to the area via the same fluxes that brought the hungry White Orca. Darkness Zone: The Darkness Zone has a stage called "Eclipse", based on the Pink Floyd song on their 1973 album, "The Dark Side of the Moon". Light Zone: The Light Zone has a stage called "Let There Be More Light", based on the Pink Floyd song on their 1968 album, "A Saucerful of Secrets". Creation Zone: Terraforming Device The Creation Zone has a stage called "The Great Gig in the Sky", based on the Pink Floyd song on their 1973 album, "The Dark Side of the Moon". Space Zone: Alien Mothership The Space Zone has a stage called "Astronomy Domine", based on the Pink Floyd song on their 1969 album, "Ummagumma". Earth could be like the water table under a village where you can see the people above you gotta my about their every day lives and most areas to breathe are various wells. Air, I'm not sure, haven't come up with one yet. Maybe a huge typhoon with numerous water spouts that will pick you up? Fire would be an oil spill zone with the oil eventually catching fire making it hard to find spots to breathe. Water would either just be a regular zone or maybe out in the pelagic waters. Lightning would be a huge storm section with lightning strikes that electrify areas of the ocean. It could be filled with jellyfish mazes and electric eels. Light would maybe be an area that is blindingly bright, maybe? Don't know what it would be though.. Maybe a different alien ship? Maybe a night mission where you have to try and avoid human submersibles and spear hunters with headlamps and sub lights? Dark would of course be an abyssal trench. Nature could be a coral reef that then transitions into a jungle river, where you have to leap up waterfalls to progress. Normally my next element is Ki but I don't know how to fit that in. Maybe I will replace it with death, which in most of my games fits under Darkness. If so, perhaps Ecco returns to the jungle or is on his way back through it and it is suddenly destroyed, either by humans or a main alien antagonists (I don't recall if that was a mainstay of the series or just the first game). Like the trees could be deforested and the coral reef bleached. Maybe polluted upper water regions that you have to dive to avoid. My other two elements are Space and Creation. Assuming aliens return space is an obvious one of being aboard a mothership. Creation could either be a machine factory or terraforming device. Or both. You could even meet different dolphin species in the different areas. Like spinner dolphins in the pelagic or water zone, maybe a Yangtze River dolphin species in the jungle to represent how they just went extinct when the zone becomes the Dead Zone MOVIE LAWL OMGBBQ. Fairy dolphins are the smallest I think so could be in that Earth zone. Dall's porpoise in the ice zone because we have them in Seward. The player character, Ecco, is a bottlenose dolphin who travels through time to combat hostile extraterrestrials in Earth's oceans and on an alien spacecraft. Plotedit The game begins with Ecco a Bottlenose Dolphin as he and his pod are swimming in their home bay. One podmate challenges him to see how high into the air he can jump. When he is in the air, a waterspout storm forms and sucks up all marine life in the bay except Ecco, leaving him alone in the bay. Upon leaving the bay to search for his pod, he contacts several Dolphins, Pilot Whales, False Killer Whale and Porpoises from other pods, who tell him the entire sea is in chaos, and that all marine creatures had felt the storm. An orca tells Ecco to travel to the Arctic to find a blue whale named the "Big Blue", who is revered among marine mammals for its age and wisdom. Ecco meets pods of Beluga Whale and Narwhals. While trying to find the Big Blue in the Arctic Ecco was almost attacked by a Polar Bear. A Narwhal saves Ecco from the Polar Bear. The Narwhal helps Ecco find the Big Blue. Once Ecco finds him, the Big Blue tells him such storms had been occurring every 500 years and directs him to the Asterite, the oldest creature on Earth. He leaves the Arctic and travels to a deep cavern where he finds the Asterite. Although it has the power to aid him, one of its globes is missing, and needs it returned. However, this can only be achieved by traveling back in time using a machine built by the ancient Atlanteans. Ecco travels to the sunken city of Atlantis, where he discovers the time machine and an ancient library. He learns the cause of the storm; it was a harvest of Earth's waters that was conducted every 500 years by an alien species known as the Vortex. The Vortex had lost their ability to make their own food, and so every 500 years, they would harvest from the waters of Earth. Learning this, he activates the time machine and travels 55 million years into Earth's past. While Ecco is in the past a Kronosaurus chases Ecco. Ecco jumps out of the water and is saved by a Pteranodon. The Pteranodon carries Ecco high. Ecco sees dinosaurs. The Pteranodon drops Ecco in the water. Ecco locates the Asterite in the past but is immediately attacked by it. Forced into battle, he manages to dislodge a globe from it. This opens a time portal and he is sent back into the present. After receiving the globe, the Asterite grants him the power to turn his sonar into a deadly weapon against the Vortex, as well as the abilities to breathe underwater and to slowly regenerate lost health. The Asterite instructs him to use the time machine to travel back in time to the hour of the harvest. This time he manages to be sucked into the waterspout with his pod. Once inside the waterspout, Ecco makes his way towards the Vortex Queen, the leader of the Vortex race. Eventually, the Vortex Queen is destroyed and Ecco rescues his pod. Plotedit The Tides of Time continues from the ending of the original game, in which Ecco had saved his dolphin pod and the Earth from the Vortex aliens. Still wielding the powers granted to him by the ancient life-form known as the Asterite, Ecco has since returned to his peaceful life in Earth's waters. One day, while Ecco is out exploring an underwater cave, a powerful earthquake goes off and causes an avalanche. As Ecco recovers, he discovers that the Asterite's powers have left him (indicated by the return of his need to surface for air). His fellow dolphins explain that something has killed the Asterite and is now spreading fear among the ocean life. Soon after, Ecco meets a dolphin with unusually long fins. She is his descendant, Trellia, who takes him to the distant future to speak with "an old friend". In the future, the ocean has developed its own mind and is connected across the planet by waterways traveling through the sky. The dolphins of the future have also evolved, as they are now able to fly through a combination of internal helium sacs and telekinetic powers. After exploring the future, Ecco finds his old friend the Asterite, who explains the events that had transpired in Ecco's time. Though Ecco had defeated the Vortex, the Vortex Queen survived and followed him back to Earth, where she killed the Asterite of Ecco's time and now nests and feeds to restore her brood. The Asterite then tells Ecco that when he used the Atlantean Time Machine to save his pod, he split the stream of time in two. One possible future for Earth is a bright, happy world of flying dolphins, while the other is a dead, mechanical world sucked dry by the Vortex. As a result, Ecco is referred to as "the stone that split the stream of time in two". Once back in his own time, Ecco travels to the Moray Abyss, where he finds the first two globes of the Asterite after clearing out the giant moray eels. He then journeys to revive the Asterite by finding its many globes that have been scattered across the ocean. Slowly, the Asterite begins to recover, and eventually is able to hold a full conversation with Ecco. However, it cannot help Ecco, as the Vortex of the dark future took its last pair of globes back to their own time. As the Atlantean Time Machine can only go into the past, Ecco must find another way to reach the dark future. Ecco makes his way to the Lunar Bay, which the Vortex have stripped of all ocean life as they continue to grow and multiply. As he explores, Ecco is ambushed by Vortex drones and taken to the dark future. Unlike the future of before, the Vortex Future is a lifeless planet-spanning machine consisting of water tubes, artificial gravity, and dangerous Vortex creatures. Ecco locates the Asterite's last two globes in a chamber, where a bubble-chained holding device called the Globe Holder resides. After destroying it, Ecco obtains the globes and is warped back to his era. With the Asterite complete again, Ecco's former powers are restored, and the Asterite summons all of Ecco's fellow dolphins to join in fighting the Vortex. As the dolphins and the Vortex do battle in the now-transformed Lunar Bay, Ecco swims to the deepest parts and infiltrates the Vortex's New Machine, then finally confronts the Vortex Queen and seemingly destroys her once and for all. As his pod celebrates their victory over the vanquished Vortex, Ecco returns to the Asterite and is told to go to Atlantis and destroy the Time Machine in order to prevent the stream of time from ever being split again. Arriving in the sunken city, Ecco discovers that the Vortex Queen is still alive as a larva after her supposed death, and the two of them race to the Time Machine. The Vortex Queen uses the Time Machine first and is sent to the Prehistoric Era, where she finds herself unable to rule over the creatures that reside there. Faced with the need to survive, the Queen is forced to adapt to Earth's own life-cycles, and through the eons, the Vortex are integrated into the ecosystems of Earth as arthropods. Ecco chooses to use the Time Machine instead of destroying it, and vanishes into an unknown era. Category:Games